Week of May 14, 2026
Week of May 14, 2026
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The first reading of an ordinance that would raise Petersburg electric utility rates by 4% starting on July, 1, 2026 came before the Petersburg Borough Assembly at last week’s meeting. The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted 7–0 to advance Ordinance 2026-08, which updates electric utility rates and charges for fiscal year 2027. The increase was identified through the borough’s Waterworth financial forecasting software, which Utility Director Karl Hagerman implemented last year in place of the previous rate study process. For a typical...
The 68th year of Little Norway Festival opens Thursday, May 14, for four days of parades, smørbrød, live music, competitive herring-tossing and all manner of communal revelry that could only happen in this town. The celebration runs through Sunday, May 17. "I love that everybody comes to town," said Kelli Slaven, who coordinates the festival schedule for the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce. "I love seeing all the people downtown - the kids running, familiar faces and new ones. It just kind of...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved the first-reading of an ordinance increasing the borough’s marine passenger fee by $3 per passenger, from $5 to $8, effective January 1, 2027. The fee is assessed once per cruise on marine passenger vessels upon first entry into any borough port. The borough has collected the fee since March 2018, using it to offset costs tied to cruise traffic — including restroom cleaning, janitorial services, library operations during the tourist season, and bridge and trail maintenance. The ordinance cites...
After 36-years leading Petersburg's Séet Ká Kwáan Dancers, Kash Kaaní Jeanette Ness is retiring and passing leadership of the group to veteran dancers Kalxeich Kayla Perry and Xáay Sháawát Laurel McCullough, both of the Wooshketaan clan. In 1989, Ness was on the parent committee for the Johnson O'Malley (JOM) program for Native students. The committee decided to hold a Potlatch in March 1990, inviting over 300 JOM students from Southeast Alaska to Petersburg. "Ruth Demmert of Kake came...
Petersburg is home to skilled quilters, knitters, and other textile artists, but it's been years since the island town had a dedicated craft store. That changed on Wednesday, May 6, when Olivia Martinsen opened Tangled Thread. The bright, colorful craft store is tucked into the first floor of the Petersburg Indian Association's Hallingstad-Peratrovich building. Martinsen has a little bit of everything: yarn, fabric, embroidery supplies, weaving materials, felting options, and lots of crafty... Full story
WRANGELL – Free public Wi-Fi is available at Shoemaker Harbor thanks to a partnership between the borough and Tidal Network, a program of Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. The wireless internet service, which covers the general area of the harbor, has been operating successfully for more than two months and sees new users daily, according to Chris Cropley, director of Tidal Network. “We wanted to come up with a system that would provide a meaningful service to the people of Wrangell and anybody who’s coming...
WRANGELL — Officials from the Southeast Alaska Power Agency and the Wrangell borough are working on a plan to bring a solar farm and battery storage system to the island, a move aimed at stabilizing the power grid. The regional power provider is looking for federal funding to pay most of the cost. The solar panels and batteries are estimated at $6 million. The project was the centerpiece of a town hall meeting May 6 at the Nolan Center, where roughly 25 residents gathered in person and online to hear about the future of their utility...
This year's Little Norway Festival is bursting with music. Local acts take the festival's downtown main stage across Friday and Saturday this year, spanning jazz, classic rock, Appalachian folk and everything between. Evening shows at Kito's Kave and the Harbor Bar keep the live music rocking and the dance floor bumping into the middle of the night. And the weekend closes with a classical music piano concert at the Lutheran Church. "I absolutely love it," said Robyn Cardenas, who curated the...
Sally Dwyer will arrive at Sons of Norway Hall at 5 a.m. this Saturday as she has been doing for the past 50 years. Dwyer coordinates the smørbrød - the traditional open-faced Norwegian sandwiches - served at the Sons of Norway Kaffe Hus, held Saturday, May 16, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Sons of Norway Hall on Sing Lee Alley. Even for those 18 years when she didn't live in Petersburg, she flew home for every festival to continue the traditions. Dwyer's preparations this year include 150...
"Anchor's Aweigh!" keeps the cast in constant motion, but not just since it's set on an old schooner, the SS Flounder. Intrigue and misadventure keep the characters coming and going, not to mention the fact that they're aboard for a singles cruise. After a long day at Little Norway, it'll be a treat for the audience to take a seat and watch the Mitkof Mummers work their magic. This magic doesn't make itself though. The Mummers have rehearsed 4-plus nights a week since March, all leading up to...
Mike Corl grew up with softball in his bones. He remembers that there were games practically every night. There was a local softball league. "Back 25, 30 years ago, I'd be in Little League or my mom would be playing softball," he said. "There were lots of teams. Traveling teams." That era wound down eventually, and the league went with it. But the tradition found a way back has been a fixture of the Little Norway Festival ever since, returning this year with six teams, roughly 80 players and...
Walk downtown Petersburg during Little Norway Festival and you'll find artwork just about everywhere you look. It's in the galleries and on the walls of pop-up shows. It's on the parade floats. And it's in the storefronts of Petersburg-Wrangell Insurance, IGA, First Bank and Wells Fargo - where the students of Rae C. Stedman Elementary School have their work on display for anyone passing by. "[The festival] is quite a concentrated experience of visual creativity," said Firelight Gallery owner...
Somewhere along the way, a trunk ended up in the Clausen Memorial Museum's storage. Nobody knows how it got there. It has no museum reference number, no donation record, no accompanying note. What it does have is a name, carved into the wood: Gertrude, Arnie's daughter. "We don't know where it came from at all," said Anne Lee, curator at the Clausen Memorial Museum. That trunk - "an America trunk," the kind Norwegian emigrants packed for a one-way journey to the States - became the seed of the...
The Little Norway Festival closes Sunday evening with a world class piano concert at Petersburg Lutheran Church. Corbin Beisner - a concert pianist who has performed at the Conservatoire Liceu in Barcelona, the Liszt Saal in Rome, and concert halls across Europe and the United States - arrived in Petersburg this week for a 7 p.m. recital Sunday at Petersburg Lutheran Church. The program includes the complete Moonlight Sonata, a full Grieg section, Christian Sinding's "Rustle of Spring" and...
1926 – There are no issues in the archive until May 19, 1926. Thank you for your patience. May 11, 1951 – Work is progressing rapidly at Twin Creek Poultry Farm toward completion of a modern, mechanized packing plant for fryers. Using assembly plant methods, Phil Clausen and Bob Schwartz will be ready in about two weeks to turn out a large weekly supply of high class, heavy fryers. Their laying pens are models of efficiency and cleanliness, too, and an increasing number of people are able to get truly fresh eggs of the highest quality...
The federal government has rejected a request to list three populations of Gulf of Alaska king salmon as endangered, according to a public notice scheduled for publication on Thursday. The listing was requested in 2024 by a Washington state conservation group amid long-term declines in king salmon numbers in Alaska. If the listing had been approved, it could have resulted in new limits on development in Alaska as well as major restrictions on commercial, sport and personal-use fishing in the state. State officials opposed the listing, and in... Full story
After dismantling the Hutchison Hawks, the Petersburg Vikings Baseball team looked to continue their winning ways against their toughest opponent so far: the Ketchikan Kings, a team the Vikings were winless against in 2025. The Vikings got off to a promising 3-1 start in game one at the end of two innings played. Then, the third inning came and the Vikings scored one run and the Kings scored nine. All of a sudden, the Vikings were down 10-4. “The inning started off with an error, then a walk, a single, another error, a walk, a single and...
Congratulating our teachers To The Editor: The Petersburg Children’s Center administration, including the Executive Director and Board of Directors, would like to congratulate our lead teachers for completing their Child Development Associate (CDA) credentials. This is a nationally recognized certification and it provides peace of mind that our staff are qualified, caring and amazing. Help us congratulate them on this feat! We will be working on getting all of our staff credentialed in the near future. With thanks and pride, Sharlay Mamoe...
Hilcorp, in acquiring BP’s Alaska assets, follows a record of cooperation with our state government that by working together each will formulate a tax solution that will be instrumental in the continued development of Alaska’s energy industry. The current deliberations from our legislative body on an appropriate tax structure must be fair and equitable in the interests of both Hilcorp and Alaska. So far, the deliberations have failed to reach a resolve, and the tax issue appears to be at a stalemate. The acquisition of BP’s Alaska...
May 6 – An officer responded to a parking complaint on N 2nd St., contacted the owner of a car blocking a driveway and the vehicle was moved. An officer responded to an alarm on N Nordic Dr. and determined it was an accidental activation. There was a report of attempted phone fraud. The caller demanded funds be sent or the individual would be arrested. Please note: Neither court systems nor law enforcement ever call individuals to demand payments. A driver on Mitkof Hwy. was issued a warning for an improper turn. Keys found on Haugen Dr....
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